Ferdinand Trailer Stars John Cena as a Big, Happy Bull

12 months ago

Blue Sky Studios and 20th Century Fox have debuted the first trailer for Ferdinand, directed by Carlos Saldanha (Rio) and starring the voice of John Cena! This animated adventure is based on the classic 1936 children’s tale The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, with illustrations by Robert Lawson. The studio has also released the full poster, along with new photos that showcase the voice cast members alongside their animated characters.

Ferdinand tells the story of a giant bull with a big heart. Ferdinand, a little bull, prefers sitting quietly under a cork tree just smelling the flowers versus jumping around, snorting, and butting heads with other bulls. As Ferdinand grows big and strong, his temperament remains mellow, but one day five men come to choose the “biggest, fastest, roughest bull” for the bullfights in Madrid and Ferdinand is mistakenly chosen. After being mistaken for a dangerous beast, he is captured and torn from his home. Determined to return to his family, he rallies a misfit team on the ultimate adventure. Set in Spain, Ferdinand proves you can’t judge a bull by its cover.

The trailer debuted on the 20th Century Fox YouTube channel earlier today, with these photos showcasing the 15 major characters in this animated adventure. These photos offer our first look at John Cena as the title character Ferdinand, along with Kate McKinnon as Lupe, Gina Rodriguez as Una, Daveed Diggs as Dos, Gabriel Iglesias as Cuatro, Bobby Cannavale as Valiente, David Tennant as Angus, Anthony Anderson as Bones, Flula Borg as Hans, Sally Phillips as Greta, Boris Kodjoe as Klaus, Jerrod Carmichael as Paco, Raúl Esparza as Moreno, Karla Martínez as Isabella and Miguel Ángel Silvestre as El Primero. 20th Century Fox has also set a December 15 release date for Ferdinand, which puts it up against potentially the biggest movie of 2017.

Disney has already slated its long-awaited sequel Star Wars: The Last Jedi for release on December 15, and as of now, Ferdinand represents the blockbuster-to-be’s only direct competition. Ferdinand will also have to contend with five high-profile new releases a week later on December 22, when Warner Bros.’ Bastards, Paramount’s Downsizing, Sony’s Jumanji, Universal’s Pitch Perfect 3 and The Weinstein Company’s The Six Billion Dollar Man hits theaters. 20th Century Fox will also release The Greatest Showman on Earth on Christmas Day, which means we’ll have another jam-packed holiday movie season on our hands this year.

Carlos Saldanha directs this animated adventure, with Cathy Malkasian and Jeff McGrath serving as co-directors, working from a screenplay by J. David Stem and David Weiss. The director and writers are no stranger to animation, with Carlos Saldanha having previously directed Ice Age: The Meltdown, Ice Age: The Dawn of Dinosaurs, Rio and Rio 2. Writers J. David Stem and David Weiss previously wrote The Smurfs, The Smurfs 2 and Shrek 2. Take a look at the first trailer, poster and photos introducing the voice cast and characters of Ferdinand.